An applicant-based recruiting strategy

Yes, you have a job now. Yes, it’s okay: your colleagues, your boss, your pay check. Yes, it is a bit far from home en yes, you loath public transport. But you can’t have it all, right?

So yes, you browse the job ad section of your newspaper regularly and now and then, you might even glance at a job site. But every interesting job seems as can’t-have-it-all as yours. So you stay, you browse a little, glance a little… and eventually: stay. You are what the job market calls a latent job-seeker. You consider changing jobs but end up every Monday on that same seat, in that very same firm.

According to a Dutch national enquiry about the job market, such latent job-seekers make up 65,3% of the employees. They enlarge the job market considerably from what we see in newspapers and on websites. That implies that employers’ strategies to attract new applicants should be adapted.

A business can try to get itself noticed differently in the already used media. Applicant-addressing taglines now only occur in job ads. Why not use them in advertising also? But of course, not every company advertises for the B2C sectors. The most obvious solution is spreading your ads in your suppliers’ and buyers’ firms. But they won’t appreciate that, oh no.

So let’s take a look at other recruiting media to reach potential applicants. A firm may for instance involve current employees by stimulating them to spread the word. It is, after all, to their advantage when a new employee comes to lighten their burden.

In other words: businesses’ social networks can be put into action consistenly to recruit new employees. Personal approaches have shown to work to persuade people. Remember your friend who tipped you on that small car dealer you didn’t think of when you were looking for a car that would fit your life? Remember that friendly shop girl that talked you into that wonderful dress, the one you got all those compliments about? The one you thought wouldn’t fit your complexion, yes.

Add a personal intermediary to your job ads, make sure they are well imformed and positive, work on a corporate culture open to applicants. Be sure to attract those latent job-seekers every other firm overlooks.